Review - Guacamelee Super Turbo Championship Edition

Never have I uttered so many naughty sweary words in such succession to a game. Guacamelee Super Turbo Championship Edition (henceforth known as GSTCE) is the shiny update to the wonderful PS3/PS Vita game, released back in 2013. This is the first time I've played it. I've had it sitting on my Vita for a while ever since it was part of the November PS Plus offering, and I'm glad I played it.

The main target for this review, therefore, will be PS4 owners who. like me, may have a copy of Guacamelee sitting in their pile of shame, and are thinking about upgrading to the PS4 version. If you already own the game, you can shell out a few pounds to get GSTCE on your PS4. Is it worth it? Definitely.

Having never played Guacamelee before, comparisons are hard, but as upgrades go, this is the most seamless one I've played. The narrative is the same quirky, jokey affair, with a pantomime-style boy meets girl, girl gets kidnapped by terrifying skeleton, boy gets killed and walks the world of the dead to get revenge story. The game looks gorgeous on the PS4, with all the new lighting effects and blurry floating particles you could ever want. With all the grunt of the console, levels are lightning quick to load and the soundtrack is packed with wonderful Mexican Samba tones blended with more modern electronica.

Included with the updated version are two new areas, Volcano and Canal as well as all the included DLC, the Inferno area. The Canal has some of the loveliest environment designs, whereas the Volcano has the more interesting gameplay. GSTCE is a platforming purists dream. It draws in all the successful variants of other well-loved games, such as Fez, with its mind-boggling explorability and map that reveals itself as you discover hidden items. It has the pin-sharp controls and beautiful visuals of Rayman and the humour, charm and sheer variety of platforming puzzles of Little Big Planet as well as the hard core challenge of Super Meat Boy. The puzzles in particular were fresh and different each time, but progressively evolving in such a way that I could intuitively understand what was required to solve the challenge. The freshness and variety of these puzzles continued right to the end of the game, and the difficulty spike got inevitably steeper too (more on that later).

With the addition of Elite-Class enemies, a new 'Intenso' combat ability and support for multiple saves, the onus on GSTCE is for upping the ante on challenge and replayability. Add to that unlockable outfits which affect your combat abilities, you might find this new version more of a tricky, but satisfying proposition.

And that's where you might find the major difference between this and the original version. The game gets very hard in the later levels. This is a good thing if you like to be challenged, but it does make the game feel like it is a play with two acts. I loved roaming around, chatting to the NPCs and running the occasional side quests. The world drinkbox has created is varied and interesting and a delight to explore. I particularly liked the nods to other video games you can find, in the Mexican style billboards and posters on the walls. 'Hombre-Mega' is one particular example, although the homages get more elaborate and humourous as you progress. Later on, however the focus is less on exploring a vivid and well populated world, but more to navigate through treacherous traps and dangerous dungeons to seek out the inevitable final boss.

I enjoyed the levelling up system, the reveal of new powers that Juan collects, which also help him to navigate earlier hidden levels which were initially unreachable. The new Intenso combat ability, which is essentially a beserker mode, adds to the planning and thoughtfulness of your gameplay, especially when it came to the Elite-Class Enemies as it buffs your health when used. Sometimes, that last little addition of health can turn the tide of the battle and it was sorely needed. The intenso ability is unlocked by making multiple hits on enemies and powers up continually, even after you die multiple times. It guarantees that no situation is completely hopeless in the game.

So onto the second act: The extra content adds about 4 hours to the game. This figure is, of course, based on the ability of the player and is only counted for the first playthrough of the game. There is plenty of replayability, especially as Hard Mode gets unlocked once you complete the game on Normal mode, but my mind reels slightly when thinking of this.

The latter part of the game is tough. The levels become more tricky to navigate, requiring absolutely precise control to successfully pass through. There are alternative routes through the map, but some puzzles must be completed to move to the next part of the story and may seem, to some, quite insurmountable. This is not a criticism, it has been a while since I played a game this difficult. It is worth being aware of this. Drinkbox have created something remarkable here, my head hurts thinking about the QA testing that must have gone on to ensure these levels worked, but if you are thinking of picking this up, don't expect a breeze when completing the game. I played this on my own, the 2P button at the top of the screen winked at me playfully throughout my time with GSTCE, reminding me of my lonely status, so would be interested to see how this alters the gameplay and challenge.

This is a great game, worthy of the New generation of consoles. it is also the definitive version and should be played by anyone who has not yet touched it. Be aware, it will stretch your platforming skills, as well as paint the walls of your gaming room with colourful language, but the sheer feeling of satisfaction when completing the challenges will be worth it. A great update to an already excellent and polished game.

Wrap up

Good - gorgeous looking, charming and packed with humour and cultural references (even to a rather awkward 'Good Luck to the Brazilian football team' poster) Solid, hard as nails, platforming for the more discerning gamer

Bad - depending on your point of view the final levels could be seen as less 'fun' and more 'grind'. Again this depends how hard-core you like your platforming.

4.5/5

Game provided by drinkbox StudiosScreenshots provided courtesy of drinkbox Studios